India captain Suryakumar Yadav has revealed how head coach Gautam Gambhir was a calming influence on him under immense pressure during India’s T20 World Cup 2026 opener against USA. Suryakumar seized the opportunity and produced a spectacular rescue act to bail India out of trouble after they slumped to 77/6 in 12.4 overs.
The Indian skipper scored an unbeaten 84* off 49 balls, smashing ten fours and four sixes in an impressive innings that helped the team to a competitive total of 161/9 in their allotted 20 overs. His innings played a key role in India’s 29-run victory as he was named the man of the match. After his knock, Suryakumar revealed details of a conversation he had with head coach Gautam Gambhir, who advised him to bat till the end, and pointed out that his wide range of strokes would allow him to accelerate later in the innings.
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“I always felt that the batsman needed to bat till the end. I never felt it was a 180-190 wicket. I felt it was a 140 wicket. But then Gauti bhai told me the same thing during the break after 14 overs. He told me, ‘Just try and bat till the end, you can cover it anytime’.” And also the most important thing is that I played a lot of cricket in Mumbai, on this wicket and on the Mumbai cricket maidans. So I know how to bowl similar kinds of wickets,” Suryakumar said in the post-match presentation.
Suryakumar also mentioned that he was under a lot of pressure after the wickets fell quickly, but he backed himself up to get the team out of trouble.
“Only I can say how much pressure I felt in the position we were in at 77/6. But at the same time I believed I had batted in similar situations before. I knew if I batted till the end I could make a difference. Today we learned that we could have batted a little bit better or maybe a little bit smarter. But that little partnership could have seen us finish on 160 instead of 160. that’s fine, we’ll sit down, we will say we have plenty of time – five days – for the next game and we will come back stronger,” he added.
Suryakumar rips Saurabh Netravalkar to shreds
Departing to bat in the sixth over, Suryakumar endured a slow start, managing just seven runs from his first 13 deliveries as wickets continued to fall during India’s difficult middle overs. He finally got the innings moving with a couple of boundaries off Shubham Ranjane and was also dropped by the same bowler in that match, a moment that proved costly for the USA.
Suryakumar gradually built his innings with great composure and confidence beforehand bringing up his half-century from 36 balls. He then provided a perfect finish to the innings by smashing Saurabh Netravalkar for 21 runs in the final over. Netravalkar ended up with the most expensive bowling figures in T20 World Cup history, conceding 65 runs without a wicket in his four overs.
Suryakumar also recorded the second-highest score by an Indian captain in T20 World Cup history, as well as the second-highest score on a captain’s debut in the tournament, after Chris Gayle’s 88 off 50 balls against Australia in 2009.
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Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
February 7, 2026
